iStat Menus Does it Do Anything?

[augustya]

Ok, So a lot of people I have seen here recommending each other or just saying that they use this APP iStat Menus in their Macbook. I just got installed it on my Macbook and I wonder what is the real need ? or what it actually does ?It is supposed to tell you the temp of your Machine and what the CPU is doing. Now I fail to understand of doing this exercise. Ok, I have got these stat from this APP now what ? Looking at the stats do the APP developer or anyone expects that I should stop doing whatever I am doing and Quit what ever I am doing as this APP is suggesting something. I really fail to understand how and what one can use this APP !! I Wrote to the Developer but no response from them so far. I think if someone here tells me how this works and is useful I may have this on my Mac or else I will just save my money. How does one read this APP stats ? What to interpret out of the stats Like for e.g I have attached this screenshot that I have taken of APP when running on my machine. So what is it supposed to mean ?

Screen Shot 2014-01-12 at 5.30.45 PM

 

[Shrink]

Ok, So a lot of people I have seen here recommending each other or just saying that they use this APP iStat Menus in their Macbook. I just got installed it on my Macbook and I wonder what is the real need ? or what it actually does ?It is supposed to tell you the temp of your Machine and what the CPU is doing. Now I fail to understand of doing this exercise. Ok, I have got these stat from this APP now what ? Looking at the stats do the APP developer or anyone expects that I should stop doing whatever I am doing and Quit what ever I am doing as this APP is suggesting something. I really fail to understand how and what one can use this APP !! I Wrote to the Developer but no response from them so far. I think if someone here tells me how this works and is useful I may have this on my Mac or else I will just save my money. How does one read this APP stats ? What to interpret out of the stats Like for e.g I have attached this screenshot that I have taken of APP when running on my machine. So what is it supposed to mean ?

Screen Shot 2014-01-12 at 5.30.45 PM

The app collects a large amount of information from a large number of sources and puts them before you in a convenient format. It allows you to monitor many of your computer systems, and can be helpful in troubleshooting problems if they occur.

 

[augustya]

But what I meant was, if I am doing something serious or important and just because iStat Menus is showing some Data it does not mean or it is wrong to expect that one would quit or stop doing what he is doing. can we talk with example, the screenshot that I have attached what is it supposed to mean ? what does one make out of it ?

 

[talmy]

It's like in an automobile. All you really need for gauges are a speedometer and a fuel gauge. However you could also have a tachometer, engine water and oil temperatures, exhaust temperature, manifold vacuum, oil pressure, battery voltage, ... iStat Menus is just a collection of extra gauges.

 

[augustya]

OK can someone here put the iStat Menus on their Machine and interpret it for me or Interpret the screenshot that I have attached ? And help me understand what should I look out for in that ? And what should I read in it ?

 

[DeltaMac]

Some users may want to use iStat menus to monitor internal temperatures or fan speed. The iStat menu app will not only show those, but can give other details about system load and memory use. All of those can be used to give you an idea about a cause of problems that users might have.
Your particular screen shot shows no issues that are important, but you could change that to show memory usage, or temperature information, etc.
And, you can monitor all of that at once, leaving it on the screen, so you can (for example) see very easily that the new app that you just installed (for editing videos, again for example) takes almost all of your memory just to run, and makes your Mac heat up very quickly, and you end up hearing the cooling fans running at full speed. And, after checking in iStat menus - you can tell why that's happening. Quitting that app may quickly cause the temperatures drop, and fans slow back to the normal low hum, and life is good - because your Mac is responding normally…
If you have no questions, or you are not having any issues with performance of your Mac hardware, and your software is also working without problems, then you can certainly say that you have no need for that kind of monitoring software - and you can be comfortable about removing it forever, and moving on with your life (which you can now say is good )

 

[augustya]

Some users may want to use iStat menus to monitor internal temperatures or fan speed. The iStat menu app will not only show those, but can give other details about system load and memory use. All of those can be used to give you an idea about a cause of problems that users might have.
Your particular screen shot shows no issues that are important, but you could change that to show memory usage, or temperature information, etc.
And, you can monitor all of that at once, leaving it on the screen, so you can (for example) see very easily that the new app that you just installed (for editing videos, again for example) takes almost all of your memory just to run, and makes your Mac heat up very quickly, and you end up hearing the cooling fans running at full speed. And, after checking in iStat menus - you can tell why that's happening. Quitting that app may quickly cause the temperatures drop, and fans slow back to the normal low hum, and life is good - because your Mac is responding normally…
If you have no questions, or you are not having any issues with performance of your Mac hardware, and your software is also working without problems, then you can certainly say that you have no need for that kind of monitoring software - and you can be comfortable about removing it forever, and moving on with your life (which you can now say is good )

But isn't Activity Monitor in Utilities also supposed to be doing the same job ? So what's the big deal ? How is iStat Menus different or unique ?

 

[DeltaMac]

Here's what I see in your screenshot:
Your Mac is under almost no load - not doing very much.
It's been powered on for just over 2 hours.
You may see something more important, if you leave your Mac on, and simply make it sleep when you are not actually using your Mac. You don't really need to ever shut your Mac off, if you don't need to. It can therefore be powered on for weeks, or even months at a time. You'll then see a number of different kinds information, that only accumulates after the system has been on for some long period of time.
As you use your Mac, you may find that you are only interested in a few items, such as temperature - or CPU load, or something else.

Or, you can choose to not care a whit about those things, because your Mac "just works" with no worries…. the choice is yours.

Are you having any particular problems with your new Mac? (I'm guessing about the "new" part)

iStat Menus gives you specific information, showing it in a way that makes sense to you. If you get everything you need with the Activity Monitor, then that's great!

 

[Shrink]

But isn't Activity Monitor in Utilities also supposed to be dong the same job ? So what's the big deal ? How is iStat Menus different or unique ?

It gathers all the information from Activity Monitor, and many other sources, in one, convenient display. It simply displays information that can be very helpful for a variety of functions.

It's not a big deal...it just provides information conveniently.

 

[augustya]

Here's what I see in your screenshot:
Your Mac is under almost no load - not doing very much.
It's been powered on for just over 2 hours.
You may see something more important, if you leave your Mac on, and simply make it sleep when you are not actually using your Mac. You don't really need to ever shut your Mac off, if you don't need to. It can therefore be powered on for weeks, or even months at a time. You'll then see a number of different kinds information, that only accumulates after the system has been on for some long period of time.
As you use your Mac, you may find that you are only interested in a few items, such as temperature - or CPU load, or something else.

Or, you can choose to not care a whit about those things, because your Mac "just works" with no worries…. the choice is yours.

Are you having any particular problems with your new Mac? (I'm guessing about the "new" part)

iStat Menus gives you specific information, showing it in a way that makes sense to you. If you get everything you need with the Activity Monitor, then that's great!

Ok, So what are the terms or numbers that I should watch out for ? which should ring alarm bells for me ? while looking at the stats from this APP ?

 

[DeltaMac]

I can't list specific numbers to look for, and there's little I can tell you about which numbers should "ring alarms" for you - other than knowing what's ordinary for _your_ Mac, and seeing some number (regardless of which one) that is outside your _your_ normal values.
BUT - the most important thing to watch for, is none of those numbers, and none of those graphics. They are really all meaningless - if your Mac is performing as your expect: Dramatic slow downs, lots of the spinning mouse cursor, fans running full speed (they'll be noisy!), freezing or pauses when you can't do much of anything - generally that your Mac doesn't do things as you expect.

Are you having any problems now - or simply have questions about what is happening?
If not, enjoy using your Mac… there's probably little point to monitoring your system if you like how it works.

 

[augustya]

Are you having any problems now - or simply have questions about what is happening?
If not, enjoy using your Mac… there's probably little point to monitoring your system if you like how it works.

Ok, I started this question with the objective of monitoring one particular site it is a video streaming site and I was a little doubtful that I I hang on that site for a longer period of time it might just wear off my Machine's GPU in the long run. So I was hooked on to this video streaming site for say an hour and iStat Menus said the Temperature of my machine was varying between 50C -60C is that Good or Bad ? And Firefox through which I was hooked on to that site showed a percentage varying between 40%-50%-60% sometimes even touching the 70% Mark. What is that supposed to mean for my system ? Good or Bad ?

Check the screenshots

 

[blue-fireball]

It sounds like the temps are fine. If it is reaching 50-70% then it sounds like pretty typical CPU usage for a flash container, which is to say crappy at best. I don't think you have to worry about thermal degradation of the GPU as macs, with a few exceptions, are good at keeping GPUs in check. More likely, you will eventually experience slowdowns in Safari as your memory cache keeps building.

 

[augustya]

It sounds like the temps are fine. If it is reaching 50-70% then it sounds like pretty typical CPU usage for a flash container, which is to say crappy at best. I don't think you have to worry about thermal degradation of the GPU as macs, with a few exceptions, are good at keeping GPUs in check. More likely, you will eventually experience slowdowns in Safari as your memory cache keeps building.

But even with that 50%-60% Temp the Palm Rest Area on my MAC becomes quite warm if not Hot I must say.

 

[tuthill]

But even with that 50%-60% Temp the Palm Rest Area on my MAC becomes quite warm if not Hot I must say.

My 2009 Macbook Pro generally runs in the 60 - 70 degree celcius range and occasionally gets up to 105 degrees. You system will shut itself down if it gets too hot.

So, I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[augustya]

is it true that for Video Streaming websites it is good to use a HTML5 enabled Browser because they make less use of GPU or RAM ? if yes ? Can anyone give me some names of a good HTML5 enabled websites which make less use of the RAM or GPU Memory.

 

[blue-fireball]

is it true that for Video Streaming websites it is good to use a HTML5 enabled Browser because they make less use of GPU or RAM ? if yes ? Can anyone give me some names of a good HTML5 enabled websites which make less use of the RAM or GPU Memory.

That is certainly true. I use a Safari extension, ClickToFlash, which will enable html5 when it is available.
http://hoyois.github.io/safariextensions/clicktoplugin/

 

[augustya]

That is certainly true. I use a Safari extension, ClickToFlash, which will enable html5 when it is available.
http://hoyois.github.io/safariextensions/clicktoplugin/

But Safari is already a HTML5 enabled browser so how will this clicktoflash help ? How is it different from Safar which already is doing this Job !!

 

[tuthill]

But Safari is already a HTML5 enabled browser so how will this clicktoflash help ? How is it different from Safar which already is doing this Job !!

If you go to the link that was kindly provided and read and digest the material presented you may learn that this plugin is capable of sometimes replacing flash media with an html5 version. The html5 capability in Safari is unable to achieve this.

 

[augustya]

If you go to the link that was kindly provided and read and digest the material presented you may learn that this plugin is capable of sometimes replacing flash media with an html5 version. The html5 capability in Safari is unable to achieve this.

I have gone thru the features and this is what it says...

"ClickToPlugin is a lightweight and highly customizable extension that prevents Safari from launching plug-ins automatically, resulting in faster browsing, reduced fan usage, and increased battery life. It replaces every plug-in object by an unobtrusive placeholder that can be clicked to load the embedded content. Further, it can replace many plug-in-based media players by Safari’s native HTML5 media player. ClickToFlash is a restriction of ClickToPlugin that only deals with Flash content."

But I could not understand it how to use it and how would it help ? So say for E.g does it mean that if I am on YouTube and watching a lot if video this thing will make my mac Less hot or something ??

 

[tuthill]

I have gone thru the features and this is what it says...

"ClickToPlugin is a lightweight and highly customizable extension that prevents Safari from launching plug-ins automatically, resulting in faster browsing, reduced fan usage, and increased battery life. It replaces every plug-in object by an unobtrusive placeholder that can be clicked to load the embedded content. Further, it can replace many plug-in-based media players by Safari’s native HTML5 media player. ClickToFlash is a restriction of ClickToPlugin that only deals with Flash content."

But I could not understand it how to use it and how would it help ? So say for E.g does it mean that if I am on YouTube and watching a lot if video this thing will make my mac Less hot or something ??

Well I don't use it as I can live with the heat (and have since 2009) however it is a free extension so why not try it. From what I can glean it will replace flash videos with a placeholder. You right click the placeholder to tell the plugin how to display the video ie. native flash or html5

Perhaps the person who pointed out this plugin could provide some more info on it?

 

[blue-fireball]

ClickToFlash uses website-specific conversion scripts to set the default player to html5 instead of flash. It does not work for every single website, but youtube is certainly among the ones listed. Without such intervention, websites will use a flash container by default.

 

[augustya]

ClickToFlash uses website-specific conversion scripts to set the default player to html5 instead of flash. It does not work for every single website, but youtube is certainly among the ones listed. Without such intervention, websites will use a flash container by default.

So ClicktoFlash is what is required in this case. I really don't need to install ClicktoPlugin right ? I understood now, how ClicktoFlash will help. But still don't see the point to install ClicktoPlugin !!

And is there a way for the user to know/find out which website uses Flash and which HTML5 ?